Mum and son on a farmers' market run. Photo: Jen Siska
Always a pleasure to have the opportunity to pen a personal piece, this time a bitter-sweet slip of a story about cooking with my teenager for Ladies’ Home Journal.
He’s gone from picky eater to adventurous gourmand in just a few short years. In a few more, he’ll be headed to college with a hot plate of his own. But I can’t entertain the thought of that just yet. Those of you fresh from high school graduations can relate, no doubt.
A few weeks ago my boy posted this on Facebook: “My foodieness has reached its apex: I had an ice plant salad tonight.” (Said salad courtesy of Gather restaurant, which knows a thing or two about how to make vegetables star on a plate.) To which a pal responded: “Perfect way for invasive [species] removal. Yank it out of the dunes and stick it in a bowl!” Gotta love the concerns and humor of this current generation.
Find the LHJ piece here — with a favorite recipe: Our take on Panzanella Salad.
Oh, and as one of my best friend’s just gleefully pointed out, I’m rocking a lot of cleavage in the online version. Thank goodness for the cropped photo in the print addition, more my style. I swear I tried to convince the stylist and photographer that a cami was called for in this photo shoot. Enough said.
You might also like:
Dealing With a Discerning Diner
Reassurance for Parents of Picky Eaters
Hungry Monkey
Thank you for stopping by Lettuce Eat Kale, the blog of food writer Sarah Henry. Here you'll find posts on school food, urban eats, people with edible interests, and more. Please take a look around and feel free to comment, or click to 
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
LOVE IT. This gives me so much hope.
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You’ll be there soon enough, deb, promise.
Ha! Love the friend’s comment. Too funny.
Indeed, Rox. What are friends for?
What a lovely essay in LHJ. I really got a flavor of your relationship between you and your son, and with food, for the two of you.
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Thanks, merr, sweet of you to say.
This is so awesome!
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Lovely essay and a great placement! Congrats~
Such a nice way to relate to a teen…
And sometimes one of the few ways to get through — via their stomachs:)
Love this! Love everything about it – that you’re introducing your son to great food, that he loves it, and that the current generation is concerned with food and invasive species. Way to go, Sarah!
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I keep wondering, Jane, whether his rebellion will involve beef, ding-dongs, or some such. Time will tell.
Lovely. Did you see the segment on the child prodigy chef. He is 13 and already cooking this summer as an intern for some of the best chefs in the country!
Impressive. I’ll check it out LL. Thanks for the heads up. I’m just grateful to have help at home from my son, when he’s in the mood to hang out in the kitchen.
What a great story. My oldest daughter is about to go into high school and it seems like the time has gone by so quickly. She headed off to camp this morning. We had tried to find a small bottle of sriracha for her to take along (her request, she can’t live without spice), but I supposed she’ll just have to use it liberally once she gets home.
Love that anecdote, MKES. The offspring bound for sleepover camp who needs a bottle of Sriracha (hot chili sauce) in the backpack as a reminder of home.
Rock on!
Ha, ha. I’ll make sure you see the print version for comparison.
Congrats on the article! Heading over to read it now.
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